Democratic Party Chairman responds to weekend arrest
There is new information in the latest fallout from the arrest of a Democratic party worker during the Fall Festival parade.
The head of the Vanderburgh County Democratic party is speaking out, and suggests it was politically motivated by the campaign of fellow Democrat Rick Davis who's running for mayor. It was Davis who defeated the party-backed candidate Troy Tornatta in the primary, creating what appears to be an ugly wound that has yet to heal, with the election just a few weeks way.
The chairman of the Democratic party Mark Owen says that arrest and how it went down shows just how split the party is headed into a very important election.
Owen says the story behind the arrest of a paid employee of the party has only divided local Democrats even more.
Owen says, "It was initiated a supporter of, unfortunately, our mayoral candidate."
The EPD confirms it was Sergeant Rick Hubbard who initiated the arrest of Alex Jarvis. Jarvis was on the Democratic party float when he was taken into custody by Evansville Police. He was detained for having a warrant for a minor traffic violation.
Owen says, "Normally police don't go out and seek you out for a minor misdemeanor warrant. That's just not their standard procedure."
It's widely rumored that Sgt. Hubbard has been in talks with mayoral candidate Rick Davis about becoming police chief if Davis becomes the next mayor.
Jarvis says his very public arrest was brought on by a loyal Davis supporter, meant to embarrass those who don't fully support their party's candidate.
He says, "It was political motivation to embarrass myself, the Democratic party, our candidates, and the city."
The EPD says Jarvis was let go because it quickly became apparent their resources could better be used elsewhere. Now, the police department is looking into whether Sgt. Hubbard abused police power for political reasons.
In the meantime, Mark Owen says his party needs to focus on the task at hand.
He says, "We want to be able to go into election day working toward the same goal."
Rick Davis told 14 News this has nothing to do with his campaign. He says his focus is on quote, "moving Evansville forward."
A key player in all this is Sgt. Hubbard, who was off duty when he initiated this by calling 911.
Party chairman Mark Owen says Sgt. Hubbard was in a bar drinking before making that call. We're waiting to hear Sgt. Hubbard's side of the story. We're told he's out of town on vacation and won't be back until next week.
Police say they also want to question Sgt. Hubbard about his actions last Saturday.
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